How ambitious millennial interns are taking over London's banks and law firms

With the execs off sunning themselves, ambitious millennials are running the show at London’s banks and law firms this summer, finds Frankie McCoy
Paul Dallimore
Frankie McCoy11 August 2016

Who runs the world? Sorry, Beyoncé, but for August it’s interns — at least in London. Look around any trading floor, law firm or newspaper room and you’ll see a veritable catwalk of young, fresh faces, as yet unjaded by years of strip-lit offices.

University exams have finished and the majority of music festivals have wound up, which means now is the time when enterprising millennials make a beeline for the capital’s most prestigious institutions, desperate to secure their future careers by impressing their seniors.

Incidentally, it’s also the month when those same seniors are most likely to be away, whether with their families

or on the yacht they’ve earned after 30 years in the corporate jungle. One law intern suggests that barristers’ offices in particular are empty for the whole of August — save for the 20-year-old juniors who are left to run the show.

This exodus presents an opportunity. Bright young things with fresh ideas have the chance to jump in at the deep end and make changes. Right now big deals in London are being brokered by people who drink Jägerbombs out of choice. So what’s it like for the 20-year-olds running the capital?

Money maker

Sure, you’ll be working hard at your City internship but you will be handsomely rewarded — with a salary that makes other summer jobs look like a waste of time. A trainee investment banker says: “Most interns at most investment banks are now paid the same salary as a first-year analyst, in this case £45-55k per annum pro rata.” She points out, rather gleefully, that “interns will be able to claim all the tax back on that as they won’t earn for the rest of the year, so 10 weeks in IBD [investment banking division] can earn a poor student almost £10k”. In other words, nab a City internship and you won’t be living off Sainsbury’s Basics cereal for long.

Even if you choose a life writing words rather than making money, you’ll be earning: the New Statesman takes pride in paying the London living wage (£9.40 an hour) to all its interns.

But if you really want to make your work pay, go on a working holiday to Silicon Valley. An anonymous survey by a former University of California Berkeley student revealed that Snapchat interns earn $9,000 a month, plus a $1,500 housing stipend, while Pinterest paid $9,000, Twitter $8,400 and Facebook $8,000. Not bad considering you are still training.

Put the kettle down

“Interns do not make cups of tea,” says our investment banking intern. This is hardcore — think of it as a 10-week job interview. “OK, they might collect printing but they do the same job as a first-year analyst — after all, that’s the job they’re being interviewed for while in the office.”

Hasan Chowdhury, 23, is halfway through his internship at the New Statesman and “started writing and reporting pieces from the get-go, given full autonomy over the stories I wanted to cover.” His main job is to write up science and technology stories for the website and insists that “the work feels very important, and though it can feel tough at times I welcome the challenge.”

Within a month of his six-month internship he’d already been asked to write a piece for the magazine: “I detailed the story of a father’s fight for his autistic son; the story allowed me to develop key journalistic skills such as interviewing and gave me the chance to have a go at feature writing.”

Today's interns don't make cups of tea
Shutterstock

Independent minds

One research and development intern at a blue-chip consumer goods company found herself left pretty much entirely to her own devices from the start. She had to learn quickly on the job but her independent work was eventually rewarded once the bosses returned from the beach. “I couldn’t start the original experiments because everyone I needed to speak to was away, so I had to come up with something new with no help from my managers as they were both on holiday for the same two weeks. It worked out well and I learned a lot rather than being spoon-fed.”

Another 21-year-old who has just started at a national newspaper has found himself in a ghost town: “My office isn’t as busy as I expected — a lot of the senior editors are away on holiday right now.” One management consultancy intern, who has been based on her client’s site for a few months, is mostly grateful for the mass exodus because “it’s actually possible to get a seat”.

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Work ethic

One banker admits that “for anyone coming straight from university the hours are a shock”. It’s a step above the leisurely college routine of writing an essay a week in between naps. But, she adds: “You get used to the routine quickly. You just have to be honest with yourself and accept that from Monday to Thursday you will eat every meal at your desk.

“Most analysts have some kind of cereal and if an intern is feeling comfortable at their new, temporary desk, they’ll do the same. Dinner is left to Deliveroo, Ubereats or Just Eat. Most of the time you can make it for dinner with friends on Friday. But on week nights, if you’re leaving before cab time (10pm-11pm at most investment banks) you’re pretty pleased with yourself.”

The hours are a shock
Shutterstock

The determination to prove yourself to be an indestructible superhuman intern who doesn’t require sleep is still the norm. “It took a few weeks to develop a healthy work/life balance; the importance I placed on the work I was doing at the beginning tipped the scales in favour of work,” says budding journalist Chowdhury.

Sam, another investment banking intern, says: “The problem is the lack of certainty, which means making plans is nearly impossible. The demands of the business, and more depressingly the culture, inevitably cause late-night pile-ups in work that suddenly materialise at 8pm once you’ve started hatching plans for a few drinks with friends.

“I’ve lost track of lunch dates, evening plans and nights out that I’ve had to cancel at the last minute.”

And do they party?

“I put nearly all my eggs in one basket, and that basket is called Saturday night,” says Sam. City interns, at least, embrace the clichéd work-hard-play-hard mentality. Our management consultant says her company organises boozy events for them, while Sophie, an intern at law firm Wedlake Bell, has been taken on picnics in Hyde Park — and boozy nights with the bosses.

Beer-fuelled networking is as key to internship success as nailing that pitch. “Every intern is encouraged to show their personality, and going out with the team is part of that,” says another investment banking intern. “Assume something along King’s Road, clubs with tables. Remember, bankers are in male-dominated groups so the only way in is to play along.”

Thursday nights might be the new Fridays in the summer but hungover mornings are not an option when you have a career to build. Our investment banking mole adds: “As an intern, though the analyst you work for might turn up at 11am the next day, you should still make sure you make 9am sharp. You never want to be the intern who rocked up after midday.” So work hard now, and you can play all you like once you’ve earned that bonus.

Follow Frankie McCoy on Twitter: @franklymccoy

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